Deploy the nginx-files-server helm chart on Linode Kubernetes Engine

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy the `nginx-files-server` Helm chart on the Linode Kubernetes Engine, you'll start by creating a new Pulumi project with the necessary configuration to manage your Linode infrastructure. You will then utilize Pulumi's Kubernetes provider to deploy a Helm chart.

Here’s a step-by-step explanation of what you'll need to do:

1. **Set up a Pulumi Project**: You have to create a new Pulumi project which will store your infrastructure as code. This encompasses your Linode Kubernetes Engine cluster and any other resources necessary.
   
2. **Create the Kubernetes Cluster on Linode**: Although the Linode provider is not directly listed in the Pulumi Registry Results, you can use Linode's Terraform provider through Pulumi's Terraform Bridge to create a Kubernetes cluster on Linode.

3. **Install Pulumi Kubernetes Provider**: To interact with this Kubernetes cluster, you need to install the Pulumi Kubernetes provider, which enables Pulumi to deploy Kubernetes resources.

4. **Deploy the Helm Chart**: Using the `@pulumi/kubernetes` package, you can deploy Helm charts to a Kubernetes cluster. You'll use the `Chart` resource to specify the `nginx-files-server` chart along with any custom values you want to apply.

Let’s walk through the Pulumi TypeScript code that deploys an `nginx-files-server` on Linode:

```typescript
import * as k8s from "@pulumi/kubernetes";
import * as linode from "@pulumi/linode";

// Step 1: Create a Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) cluster
// Note: You'll need to replace the placeholders with the desired region and 
// type, refer to Linode's documentation for valid values.
const cluster = new linode.LkeCluster("my-cluster", {
    region: "us-central",
    k8sVersion: "1.20",
    nodePools: [{
        type: "g6-standard-1",
        count: 2,
    }],
});

// Step 2: Export the kubeconfig to interact with the LKE cluster
export const kubeconfig = cluster.kubeconfig;

// Create a Provider resource to interact with your Linode Kubernetes cluster
const provider = new k8s.Provider("provider", {
    kubeconfig: kubeconfig,
});

// Step 3: Deploy the nginx-files-server Helm chart to the Linode LKE cluster
const nginxFilesServer = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("nginx-files-server", {
    chart: "nginx-files-server",
    // You can specify the Helm repository here if it's not a stable chart
    fetchOpts: {
        repo: "http://charts.my-org.com/", // Replace with the chart's Helm repository
    },
    // Specify namespace if needed, otherwise default is used
    // namespace: "my-namespace",
    values: {
        // Specify any custom values for the chart
    },
}, { provider });

// Optional: Export any of the resources' properties you might need
export const nginxServiceUrl = nginxFilesServer.getResourceProperty("v1/Service", "nginx-files-server-nginx-files-server", "status");
```

In the code above:

- You create an LKE cluster with a specific region and node pool configuration. 
- The Kubernetes provider is then initialized with the kubeconfig from the newly created Linode LKE cluster. 
- Finally, the `nginx-files-server` Helm chart is deployed to the cluster using the `Chart` resource. You may need to specify the repository where the Helm chart is located and also adjust the `values` object to customize the Helm chart's parameters.

Remember to replace `"http://charts.my-org.com/"` with the actual Helm chart repository URL for `nginx-files-server`. If the chart is in Helm's official charts repository or your private repo, ensure to point to the correct location.

To use the above program, you should have Pulumi CLI installed and configured to use with Linode. Save the code to a file (e.g., `index.ts`), and use the Pulumi CLI to create and deploy the stack, which represents all the resources mentioned therein.

This program is a foundational starting point. Depending on the `nginx-files-server` chart specifics and your project requirements, you might need to adjust or enhance this code.